The Massachusetts Gaming Commission last week postponed taking action to restart the bidding process for a third casino license in the southeastern gaming region until after the newly appointed chairman takes her seat.
In 2016 the panel decided not to issue a license for Region C in deference to progress that had been made for a tribal casino in Taunton by the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe. However, that effort has bogged down, and maybe will never start up again.
At the urging of Mass Gaming & Entertainment, which lost its bid to build a casino on the Brockton Fairgrounds, but which has petitioned for a second look, the commission has been talking about reopening the process. MG&E is a subsidiary of Rush Street Gaming, which says it is “ready to start” on its $700 million casino. It said it also is ready to write a check for the $85 million license fee.
Rush Street is also a monetary backer of the Taunton residents who successfully sued to reverse the decision by the Department of the Interior to put land owned by the Mashpees into trust.
but the company has since petitioned the commission to re-open the bidding process. MG&E, which is backed by Rush Street Gaming, told the commission in June that its roughly $700 million project is “ready to start” and the $85 million licensing fee “is ready to be paid today.” Rush Street gaming is owned by billionaire Neil Bluhm.
The commission, minus its chairman, Stephen Crosby, was ready to consider rebooting the licensing process, but at the urging of its executive director, Edward Bedrosian, voted last week to delay until the newly appointed Cathy Judd-Stein takes her seat on February 4. Governor Charlie Baker appointed Judd-Stein, his deputy legal counsel, to the vacancy.
Bedrosian told reporters “We had previously talked about bringing this back up in front of the commission in January, which we are, but the interim factor and change in circumstance is the appointment of a new chair and it seems appropriate that we wait until the new chair is in place so the new commission in total can address this.”
He said the commission will take up the issue once the new chairman is up to speed.
The commission previously awarded two of the three available resort casino licenses, and the single slots parlor license.
Aquinnah Tribe Wants Place at table
The Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe, which last year won the right in federal court to offer Class II gaming, wants something more: a place at the talks about gaming expansion at the state legislature.
The Martha’s Vineyard-based tribe, through a letter to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, pointed out that it’s the only tribe in the state with trust lands, and that so far it is the only one that is legally allowed to offer gaming.
Tribal Chairman Cheryl Andrews-Maltais argued in the letter, dated January 22, that the tribe “must be considered in any discussion regarding gaming in the Commonwealth and Region C.”
Her letter is a reference to the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe’s increasingly desperate situation.
During the last meeting Commissioner Gayle Cameron, interim chairman, referred to the letter: “This last comment has some interesting information so we look forward to incorporating that in the discussion.”
The Aquinnah tribe opposes the bill in Congress, H.R.312, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation Reaffirmation Act, that would restore the Mashpees’ lands, because it doesn’t include her tribe, whose territory overlaps that of the Mashpees.
She writes, “In other words, if Congress is going to reaffirm the Mashpee Wampanoag right to have tribal trust land then they must also do so for the Aquinnah Wampanoag,” adding, “We are simply requesting parity.”
Her tribe has announced plans to partner with the Chickasaw Nation to build a Class II casino on the island. They would like to build a Class III casino, but so far, the state has refused to open negotiations for a Class III compact, something it did do with the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe.
